| Notes |
- The best record of the life of Samuel Rider is from an untitled manuscript found in the Barnstable MA Public Library, and attributed to Phyllis Ryder Endicott. A slightly abbreviated version of her paper is given here. A more rigorous treatment of the family can be found in The American Genealogist, 36:193-98, 43:117-23, 80:128-39 (see Vol 80 (2005), p.130).
"Marriage records at Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, England, show that on 1 Nov. 1600, John Rider was married to Helen Smyth. john was probably the son of William Rider and Alice England, who were married there 7 Oct. 1577. The family goes back at least to 1433."
"The Samuel Rider who appears in the early records of Yarmouth, Massachusetts, was the son of this John Rider. he was baptized at Newport Pagnell 19 June 1601 and he married Anne Gamlett 16 Oct. 1628 in Allhallowes Parish, Northampton, England. Samuel's children, those born in England and those born in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, were named in his will, dated 20 Nov. 1679 in Yarmouth. That the English-born Samuel and the Yarmouth Samuel were one and the same is proved further in the next paragraphs.
"The will of a John Smith, yeoman, dated 7 Oct. 1637, in Kingsthorpe, England, contained a bequest to "Samuel Rider, my godson" of "the house I lived in with yard, outhouses, etc., belonging the leas of grass that adjoins unto them." Twenty-six years later, in 1663, a conveyance of this same property was made by "Samuel Rider of Plymouth in New England, yeoman, son of Samuel Rider heretofore of the Town of Northampton, Moulster, to William Butlyn of Kingsthorpe, miller...of the messuage in Kingsthorpe now occupied by Elenor Hancorne, widow, and a leas of ground shooting against a close belonging to the messuage which said premises were given to the said Samuel Rider by the last will of John Smith."
"Since Samuel appeared in the records of Yarmouth in 1638, the year following the original bequest, it seems likely that he mortgaged the property to obtain money to emigrate.
"There is a deed in the Northampton Public Library that states that Samuel Rider, Jr, "reputed sonne of Samuel Rider, Sr, sometimes lived in the town of Northampton in the County of Northampton in the Parish of Allhallowes in Old England, and the said Samuel Rider Junir hath lived with the said father in the township of Yarmouth in the jurisdiction of Plymouth in the new England in America and in the Towne of Plymouth in the aforesaid jurisdiction, dated 3 Dec. 1662.
"Newport Pagnell where Samuel1 was born is a small market town on the main road some twelve miles from Northampton, England. Samuel was nineteen years of age when the Pilgrams made voyage in the Mayflower, on board which ship was William Brewster, whose 5-great grandson, John Rider. In those days before newspapers, market days were important events for more than marketing purposes. News was exchanged, gossip passed on and speeches made in market places, and undoubtedly Samuel first heard of this sailing on market day in Newport Pagnell. On many other market days in the following years, he probably stood in the crowd listening to impassioned speeches and to talk of better prospects in America. When letters arrived from the Colonies, telling of independence and opportunity there, I imagine him listening intently as they were read aloud and discussed.
"English life was not pleasant under Charles I. Samuel and his family were almost certainly dissenters, and their wish to emigrate was religious as well as economic, for Yarmouth and Plymouth church records show their early membership.
"At some point during this early life in England, Samuel moved from Newport Pagnell to Northampton, twelve miles away. There he married Anne Gamlett 16 Oct. 1628 and started his family. Then, through the will of John Smith in 1637, the move seemed nearer.
On 7 Jan. 1638/39 his name appears on a list of "those who proposed to take up their freedom at Yarmouth.” "Samuel received a grant of land in 1638 for having the first male white child born in Yarmouth. This child was Zachariah, who died in 1685 from a gunshot wound at a training."
Once settled in Yarmouth, Samuel's public activities were busy and varied. In August 1643 he was amongst the "Names of all the Males that are able to beare Armes from xvj Yeares old to 60 Years wthin the sevrall Townshipps" [Shurtleff 194]. He served on a committee chosen to "appoynt a place for defense in case of sudden assault, and forthwith to cause the same to be fortyfied with all speede." On 9 Jun 1653 he was appointed lieutenant of a Military Company at Yarmouth. But this promotion was short-lived, for in 1654/55 he was charged with the offense of "showing sympathy to Quakers" and "ordered to appear before court to answer for affronting a constable" at Yarmouth while pressing men for an extended expedition, and on the 7th was bound over to the next court. He was subsequently demoted from the "office of Lt, 6 March 1654." However, on 1 Jun 1658, he was "restored to the office of Lt."
In 1658 he was a member of the Council of War, and appeared at Plymouth as deputy from Yarmouth to consider with deputies from other towns the danger of war between England and Holland.
In 1649, 1658, and 1659 he sserved as surveyor of highways.
In 1657 he was amongst "the Names of Such of Yarmouth as tooke the Oath of Fidelytye in the year 1657." [Shurtleff 185] On 3 Jun 1657 he served as grand juryman, and again in 1660. In 1659 he was on a jury of inquest at Yarmouth. In 1663 he served as constable. In 1671 he was a collector of Minister's taxes, and in 1676 was one of three makers of a rate "toward the charge of the late war," his own tax fixed at 5 pounds 2 shillings 6 pence.
He was demoted for protecting a Quaker
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1601 - 1679 (78 years)
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